


DBH: Illuminate- Hit and Run

by grayorca15, TheShadowsmiths



Series: DBH: Illuminate [10]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game), Detroit: Become Human (Video Game) RPF
Genre: DBHIlluminate, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2020-12-27 19:47:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21124232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grayorca15/pseuds/grayorca15, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheShadowsmiths/pseuds/TheShadowsmiths
Summary: Axl spots a trine of RK800's entering Detroit on a bus inbound from outside the city. Kate moves to tail them with the intention of finding out why they're there, but is spotted by Connor's doppelganger and forced to do something she regrets in order to escape.Chapter art by --triple_jays_art





	1. Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> Find this on: 
> 
> **Deviantart**: [[ Hit and Run, pt. 1 ]](http://fav.me/dditc57)  
**Tumblr**: [[ Hit and Run, pt. 1 ]](https://dbhilluminate.tumblr.com/post/188510374244/dbh-illuminate-hit-and-run-part-1)  
**Amino**: [[ Hit and Run, pt. 1 ]](https://aminoapps.com/c/detroitbecomhumanofficial/page/blog/dbh-illuminate-hit-and-run-part-1/2D5L_8mHNulNQvv3xX8nBXEmYbQnGnV7w)
> 
> \---
> 
> If you like our work, please consider [[ joining our discord ]](https://discord.gg/AfteugU) for a catalogue of character bios and a glossary of terms, or dropping by [[ Detroit: New ERA ]](https://discord.gg/ec69ttR)'s Discord and the [[ Detroit: Become Human Official Amino ]](https://aminoapps.com/c/detroitbecomhumanofficial/page/user/dbh-illuminate/Bvad_jPsbfozYpNPN1j2aeQNde3eEED2RZ) to let the MODs know! It would really help us out!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **November 12th, 2038 - 12:54 PM**

By the end of the journey, Dennis almost wished their special travel privileges had been revoked. Standing at the back of the bus might have been degrading for models of their (_dubious_) stature- compared to that, sitting wedged into an armchair-style seat wasn’t any more pleasant, but it was useless to rue any of it at this point, like insisting on taking the window seat in spite of irrelevant comfort. His partner squinted and placed a hand on the glass to see further out the window in anticipation of what their first glimpse of Detroit would entail. Thus far, the rolling expanses of countryside —field after field of unharvested late season corn— had yet to give way to congested metropolitan sprawl. Nick sighed and turned back to him in disappointment.  
"How much longer? Why is it so far? I didn't know it would take so long." 

Such questions were unsuspicious to the rest of the tour bus’ human group, but exhausting to have to answer ten times over. Instead of responding with his usual weariness, Dennis skimmed ahead to the next news article on his tablet, slouched down in his seat with his elbows bowed and his ankle crossed over one knee. He cut enough of a surly image he hadn’t been bothered by other passengers looking for small talk, though his covert attire helped throw off suspicion. In his Michigan State Wolverines hoodie, blue jeans, and ski cap crammed down over his brow, Dennis looked like just another lazeabout young adult catching the bus back to the city. He’d even left the laces of his boots untied to better help sell the idea.   
With every lazy turn the bus made they swayed one way, then the other. Dennis ran through a few possible responses before he opted for a casual nudge of his toe against his partner’s knee. This might have been a bearable arrangement, if only he would quit fidgeting every five minutes. 

“You lookin’ for a distraction, or you want the same answer I’ve been givin’ you the last five hours?”  
Nick knocked his knee against his in rebuttal as he continued to look out the window, then turned and leaned back toward him, eyes wide under an old Detroit Tigers ball cap. "I'm just curious! It's been so long since we’ve been home… how much longer ‘till we get there?"   
The tablet in Dennis’ hands updated in real time: a few mentions of road accidents that had waylaid everyday commuters at several junctions along I-75, interrupted his reading with a few annoying pop up banners that he swiped away after reading. “An hour, provided the traffic doesn’t logjam between here and there,” he replied, then paused to take a sideways glance at his partner’s leg jittering up and down like a piston. Dennis recalled that had been their third’s plan to eat up the few hundred miles between Dayton and Detroit, but four hours in, Nick had recharged all he could will himself to. Now he was brimming with nervous energy he couldn’t work off, as always. Good plan, bad result.  
“What happened to sleeping your way back?”  
Nick reached to fuss with one of the arms of his windbreaker jacket and fidgeted in his seat. His leg stopped for a moment. "I tried that, but I'm not- _ tired _ anymore. We're going so slow… _ Too _ slow. Can't they go any faster? When will we actually be in the city?"   
“Soon enough,” Dennis replied, and dialed back the exasperation in his tone to spare them both the aggravation. Whether or not the delays could be helped didn’t stop Nick from whining about it anyway. There was no sense in getting annoyed.

Dennis glanced back and around at their company, most of whom were either asleep or too engrossed with their mobile electronics to notice, and made one slight tug at the ski cap. His LED dimmed beneath it, but he needn’t chance someone noticing the faint glow. As he opened the wireless communication channel between them, he reverted back to their usual banter: _ Don’t whine so much, you’ll draw attention to us. _ Their press coverage was still minimal as of yet, and most photos tended to consist of only _ one _ of their three faces. The odds they’d be outed were minimal, but it was still attention they didn’t need. _ And you know Zero could use the recharge._  
Nick twisted around and directed a too-obvious glance at their dozing primary seated a few rows back on the opposite side of the aisle. The RK800 (_formerly known as “Connor”_) faked a nap, head tilted back against the cushy headrest with a smart-looking cap pulled down over his eyes.   
_ Okay, okay, fine… I'll stay quiet_, the anxious Android agreed as he settled back into his seat, then propped his chin up in the palm of his hand as he frowned at the floor.  
_ You’re fussing more than the three-year-old in Row E_. Dennis nodded to illustrate his point, directed a raised brow to the child in question, and rubbed at his eyes. _ I know you don’t like long rides anywhere. But you know why we’re being recalled, right?_

He _ had _ explained it. Whether or not Nick had been _ listening _ was another matter entirely.  
His partner leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms as he re-accessed the data, and remained quiet just long enough to formulate an answer. _Yes… we're going back to Detroit to- uhm… help with something. _

Nick never _ had _ possessed the longest attention span of their trio…   
Capacity for learning meant human mannerisms could easily sneak their way into all the machine-like tics that came with being an android, but they still needed to be tempered. Dennis shut his eyes before the urge to roll them got the better of him. Even if it was the perfect moment to indulge one, he refrained from exhibiting any deviant-centric behaviors, lest he give Amanda another reason to add a new tally his behavioral report.   
_ Yes. We’re going to help determine where Illuminate has been operating. Zero’s redundancy twin is a whisker away from rooting out their base of operations, and he could use some backup closing the net.  
_The long and the short of it, as described by Amanda, wasn’t that their time around the Midwest had been a complete waste, but now that they were in the know about Zero’s “other half”, it stood to reason that they’d been sent out of the city to keep from overlapping on DCPD cases. Her patronizing reassurance did nothing to calm the faux bubbling of anxiety in Dennis’ lines, however; in fact it had done the opposite by seeding the suspicion of irrelevance. He was simply better than Nick at concealing what he felt, as much as he wasn’t supposed to.

Nick bypassed the information that they were being sent to help uncover the largest connection that would help them prevent a deviancy uprising, and immediately went for the acknowledgement of Zero's twin. Instead of skeptical, he was genuinely earnest to embrace the notion of a lost ‘relative’. The prospect didn’t scare him at all.   
_Oh, yes, I knew that. I can't wait to meet him!_ _I wonder if they look different... you know, so we can tell them apart? I wouldn’t want to confuse one for the other._  
Dennis scoffed and twitched his crossed-over ankle to purge some of the subdued restless energy. _That’s hardly our biggest concern. This isn’t a social call, it’s for the good of the mission._ He may not have always liked being the anchor of their group, but _someone_ had to be.  
_I know, I'm just excited. The wait is making me anxious… _Nick trailed off as he took a hopeless look out the window again, then realized what he _should have _said and turned back to Dennis. _A-and to get started on the mission, of course. _

With a slow, careless blink and a small sigh, Dennis cleared the news article he was no longer one-hundred percent focused on reading, just as a green mileage sign flashed by. Toledo, Monroe… then Detroit- all potential deviancy hotspots.   
Depending on what kind of network Illuminate had established, they could have connections everywhere. Thirteen months was a long time for roots to spread. Even if they had only been dispatched to try and round up stragglers, sending three deviant hunters after an un-quantifiable number of deviant Androids across several States was a slapdash attempt at containing the phenomenon, at _ best_. Deviants were as varied and widespread as the humans they took after.  
Dennis doubted he and his partners would have been able to see so much of the Midwest any other way, though. Mission parameters raised no red flags against lingering on a rooftop a few minutes longer than necessary to watch the sunrise over a foggy Lake Eerie, or peer through a fence to appreciate the teamwork of two dozen grade-schoolers playing a round of baseball after class- or study the diligence with which a monarch butterfly moved from one milkweed plant to the next, carrying out its natural function as a pollinator against all odds, natural or otherwise. That instance in particular, Dennis remembered having to stop and remind Nick it was time to leave. The garage in the middle of that bough harbored no deviants, just a wild assortment of insects. He would have been successful, too, if the damn butterfly hadn’t thought to land on his partner’s wrist.

Nick had gone completely still as soon as it landed, letting out a breathy gasp and donning a wide-eyed stare. "_Look, Dennis, look- wait, don't come close, you'll scare it off!_”  
Which was how the presumed in-out inspection job turned into a thirty minute ordeal of tagging along after a ziggy little monarch. Even after flitting away, its new fan put his android abilities to use, sprinting after and tracking it like a fox chasing a hare. Dennis had followed only to ensure no harm befell their third, while Zero went alone to determine the deviant’s next most likely hiding place. They returned to find Zero standing idle outside the tool shed, while a recovery team from the nearest Cyberlife depot tazed and loaded the exposed fugitive up for transport.  
That had been three months ago- now here they were on the cusp of winter, headed back to Detroit to take part in a far more important manhunt. Colder temperatures were already leaving flecks of frost on the Greyhound’s curvy windows. It was strangely foreboding.  
But there wouldn’t be any butterflies this time, or so he’d hoped.

**November 12th, 2038 - 03:37 PM**

The Rosa Parks terminal wasn’t the first stop their bus made within the city limits. On the off chance they had been noted by prying eyes between Dayton and Detroit, they had been instructed to disembark at random.   
This counted as such.   
They didn’t need to step off as a group, but months on the road together only served to reinforce the invisible tethers- where Zero went, Nick and Dennis would follow. If he asked them to wait, they would. If he ordered them not to speak to anyone, they wouldn’t. Anyone who wasn’t law enforcement or related to an active case weren’t to be extensively interacted with-   
Which was why the moment two parka-wearing children darted out of the crowd and tripped Zero up was so unexpected. Z’s nostrils flared as he barely sidestepped quickly enough to get out of their way, and a hand shot out to brace himself against the side of the idling bus.  
_ “Sorry, mister!”  
_Amidst more carefree giggles, they wove back into the crowd, right back to their parents’ sides. After being cooped up on a bus for god only knows how long, it wasn’t any surprise a kid’s first instinct would be to run amok at the first opportunity. With his disguise intact and his cover no worse for wear, Zero returned his focus to locating the subspace storage compartments running the length of the vehicle, and entered the six digit code Cyberlife had forwarded. A panel slid back to reveal a black gym bag, right where they said it would be. All that remained now was to get to Central Station.

They could have summoned a taxi, but with the chill of winter rolling in on the heels of November (_cool and breezy, tempered with city smog_), it wasn’t unbearable. In contrast to the stuffy interior of a tour bus, one might even call it refreshing; besides, it would do them good to walk, to stave off freezing joints. They had an itinerary, but not an expected time of arrival. Hiking the last leg of the journey to the station didn’t go against any pre-existing orders, and it would give them time to acclimate to their urban surroundings. Zero shouldered the bag by pulling the bandoleer-style strap over his head, then grabbed the brim of his cap and gave it a firm downward tug. Underneath, his LED flickered and spun up.  
_ Would you two mind walking from here on?_  
Nick looked around at their new surroundings and nodded absent-mindedly, not at all realizing that he looked like a star struck tourist in a less-than star-studded city. Oblivious to this as ever, he straightened up and focused with a gleeful smile. _ Yeah, I’d like that! Just look how nice it is. The bus ride was so long… and the station isn't that far. _  
_ ‘Nice’, _ Dennis scoffed over the line as he cinched up his for-show knapsack and led the way out of the boarding area under the iconic inverted-umbrella, funnel-shaped tensile canopy. They kept at least an arm’s reach from each other as they wove into the crowd, but stayed within each others’ line-of-sight. Sticking close together was the best possible formation if they wanted to avoid being sidetracked. _ Don’t go getting too used to it, Nick. You said the same thing about Chicago, before that breeze almost knocked you off the DuSable._  
_ I didn't know it would be so strong, _ Nick protested in defense, sounding half-embarrassed by the mention of the event. It was as close to an infamous public screw up as they had yet known. The smile dropped. _ I know now, I won't do that again. At least not when it's windy. _  
_Just stay away from the river, you should be fine. Detroit only has one._

That she did. Wide and noticeable as it was, an expanse of sky and sea was all that separated the states from Canada. But beyond that to the southeast, past the assortment of towers and the even-further faraway silhouette of Windsor, a lattice-covered spire shaped like a speartip pierced the horizon as if it were threading a needle through the clouds. Zero had glimpsed it as the bus rode the elevated interstate. Now, his brown eyes subconsciously scanned the urban skyline for it as it crossed his mind once more, as if he owed it at least one fervent glance for being the closest thing to ‘home’ _ most _ androids knew. Even if it said place wasn’t for him, there was the illusion of disdain in looking at it. Knowing what he did about their excommunication from its shadow, he wasn’t in any hurry to lay eyes on Cyberlife Tower again. Why should it feel familiar, or welcoming, when they hadn’t even had enough time to get attached to the sight of it?  
The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth, but before he could let it fester, he turned and fell into step with the other two.


	2. Intercept

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate moves to intercept the new RK800's.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find this on: 
> 
> **Deviantart**: [[ Hit and Run, pt. 2 ]](http://fav.me/ddjmeis)  
**Tumblr**: [[ Hit and Run, pt. 2 ]](https://dbhilluminate.tumblr.com/post/188780775329/dbh-illuminate-hit-and-run-part-2)  
**Amino**: [[ Hit and Run, pt. 2 ]](https://aminoapps.com/c/detroitbecomhumanofficial/page/blog/dbh-illuminate-hit-and-run-part-2/Lo16_zGU8udpxNxk6zD8z2pvj5PXxpLja)
> 
> Come visit us on our [Discord](https://discord.gg/ukkAvRU)!

**November 12th, 2038**

This certainly wasn’t what Kate anticipated she’d be doing with her afternoon.   
Most days, if she wasn’t focused on any particular task, she’d spend her spare time combing the city for anything of interest, which could be defined as a variety of chores. Some days she found stray deviants in need of a hand, sometimes she’d take the opportunity to dig for information; sometimes it just meant rounding up supplies for Jericho’s ever-growing refugee population, or checking in with contacts she hadn’t spoken to in a while.   
But today was different. Today it was three unforeseen RK800s in disguise on a bus, inbound to the Rosa Parks terminal- or at least, that was what she’d been told. How it was even _possible_ that a doppelgänger (_let alone three_) of a supposedly unique model of android was just as important a question as the why. Illuminate hadn’t exactly done anything in particular to upset the media lately, but then again, DCPD hadn’t made any significant discoveries in the deviancy case, either. And if they had more than one unit lying around unused, why _wouldn’t _Cyberlife send backup to hasten their progress?

The last twenty hours had been anything but dull, in spite of this pressing revelation. Ill-prepared as she was for their arrival, Kate had been waist-deep in preparations for Markus’ broadcast from the Stratford Tower since she’d last spoken with Cyberlife’s resident Android liaison within DCPD the night before. Following her conversation with Connor, Kate returned to Jericho at Markus’ request to find him agonizing over what to include in his speech. Although she had specifically told him she would contact _ him _ when Illuminate was ready to brief them on the plan, his tired tone spoke volumes to what he’d really been wrestling with.  
Even though he’d had two days to prepare by the time she made it back, he’d gotten a whole lot of nothing accomplished in that time. Between Josh’s suggestion to take a pacifistic approach, North’s insistence that he phrase it more like a list of demands, and Simon’s ever-neutral ‘do what you feel is right’ stance, he was having a hard time hearing his own thoughts. Markus was desperate to speak with someone who could ‘see reason’- and by that, of course, he meant someone who had considered _ all _ the angles, who could see the bigger picture.  
She couldn’t really argue against that: as much as she liked Josh and could appreciate North’s passion, they were extremes on opposite ends of a very flammable argument, one which would undoubtedly either blow up in their faces or result in humanity slamming the door on compromise for good. What he needed was to speak with someone with a little more verbal finesse, who could hold the middle ground in an argument that held enough weight to balance the scales, but had the potential to tip them favorably when the time was right. 

Reluctantly, Kate agreed on the condition they give her crew one more day to finish preparations, since her visit would be taking time away from her ability to do so. While Markus had eagerly accepted her bargain, neither had anticipated just how long it would take for them to reach a consensus, in spite of how closely their opinions mirrored each other’s. For seven hours they went back and forth between lectures, debates (_to which she’d played devil's advocate_), and half a dozen games of chess. In the end, Markus found the message he was looking for (_j__ust the right balance of informative and ominous_).  
But what came _ afterward _ had her seriously doubting whether he would have ever been able to pull this off, had he not had Illuminate at his aid.

_ “I’ve been thinking about how we could get into the broadcast control room at the Stratford Tower.”   
_ “_You what…?” _

Kate put on a straight face, smothered the impulse to press her fingers into her eyes and sigh heavily, and humored him in spite of how asinine his suggestion that they just _ walk through the front door _ really was, when there were less conspicuous alternatives than showing every camera in the Stratford Tower their faces.  
“As long as we don’t act strange and look like we belong there, no one will question our presence.”  
“Yeah, and I get not wanting to draw attention to yourself but still, it’s just not the best idea,” was all she could manage after a pause.   
Markus sighed in frustration. “Will you just… _ listen_? Before you make your decision?”  
Kate had a feeling she knew how this conversation would end, but granted his wish and gestured for him to continue.  
“I’ll take the elevator up to the forty-seventh floor, change into a disguise as a working android-”  
“Stop- hang on a second,” she interjected to hold up a hand between them, as she tried to understand the thought process behind something so unnecessary. Already, he was losing her. “Why would you need to pretend to be a human… just so you could pretend to be a service Android?”  
“A quick change to throw off suspicion?”  
“But you literally just said that was the purpose of going through the front door- to not draw attention to yourself. If someone sees you enter the bathroom wearing one thing and leaving wearing something else, much less _ android clothing_, they’ll get suspicious.”  
“Then we’ll just have to hope they don’t notice.”  
“_Or_, you enter through the sublevels of the tower as a working android and use prejudice to your advantage. Service androids are all over and those armbands make you _ invisible _ to humans, no one’s gonna think twice about why you’re here instead of there.”  
Markus paused for a moment to consider her suggestion before he nodded in agreement. “Okay… but we still need access to the server room on that floor.”  
“Those aren’t servers, it’s just a patch closet,” she corrected, “But you can still use them to gain access to their network.” So far, this was the first part of his plan that made logical sense. “Why do you need to get in there- to gain access to their security feed?”  
“No, to gain access to the window wash lifts.”

Kate’s thought process came to a screeching halt, only this time she couldn’t hold back the condescending look that came as a package deal with the slow, confused blinking. “...and… _ why _ would you need access to those?”  
“To reach the top floor.”  
As much as she wanted to point out how they could just take the service elevator to do that, she held her tongue. “And... _ how _ do you expect to get out onto it?”  
“We cut a hole in the glass, crawl out onto the lift, and climb the cables for the other lifts-”  
“Markus...” The exasperated utterance of his name was a plea for him to stop in and of itself. “This is completely absurd. This isn't _ Mission: Impossible_, and the Stratford Tower isn’t Fort Knox.”  
“If they see us enter the room, but don’t see us come out, they’ll assume we’re still working. No one would be the wiser to what we’re doing,” he insisted.  
“That’s assuming they don’t _ also _ have security cameras in the server rooms... which they will,” she reminded pointedly, “But nevermind that- what then?”  
“From there, we cut a hole in the window of the top floor, re-enter and rendezvous with Simon and Josh-”  
“And how are _ they _ getting up there?”  
Markus hesitated to answer. Based on his reaction to the advice she’d given him as she deconstructed the first part of the plan, and the embarrassed shift of his eyes at her question, she could tell he was reconsidering. Kate lifted her brows expectantly to prod the question out of him.   
“...the maintenance elevator for construction,” he mumbled at last.

Kate was silent for almost a full minute as she sat there processing what he’d just come back around full circle to. Disbelief painted her face as she took in a deep, calming breath, tented her fingers before her face, and covered her nose and lips to hide the annoyed twitch in her cheek. “...If you had no purpose for getting into the server room other than to gain access to the window wash lifts... and if they can get to the top floor without having to do _ any _ of what you’re suggesting… then why don’t you just save yourselves the trouble and _ all _ take the maintenance elevator?”  
As anticipated, Markus didn’t have an explanation ready. In his bewildered silence, she continued the train of thought.   
“Or better yet- take the fire escape with only a handful of security cameras in the stairwell that will take you right to the top of the tower. Why do _ any of this _ and risk getting caught doing something you shouldn’t be doing?”

Markus’ eyes darted through empty air for a full minute as he searched for a reason, but sighed sheepishly and conceded her logic when he found nothing. “You’re right… I’m overthinking this.”   
“You’re making a very simple solution _ needlessly complicated_,” she agreed with a sigh and a soft hand on his shoulder. “I said I’d get you in and I _ will_, so just leave the planning to us. We have a lot of experience with these kinds of ops.”  
“So what would you suggest?”  
“You just focus on making your speech and getting out before security shows up. We can get you badges for access no problem, you shouldn’t need uniforms. Getting you in isn’t the hard part, it’s getting out before you get caught that’s the problem,” she explained as she rummaged through her bag for her tablet.  
“I actually have an idea for that,” Markus chimed in, “And I think you’re gonna like it.”  
Kate gave him a tired look, sighed, and nodded as she waited for his response.   
“The only way out, once security is alerted, is up- on the top floor, that takes you to the roof.”  
“Right…”  
“So then the only way off is to jump.”  
“_Base jumping_!? In the middle of a _ crowded city_!? Are you-“

The initial suggestion sounded ludicrous, but the longer she thought about it, the better it sounded. Markus wasn’t wrong. Once cornered in the Broadcast room, the only way out of the tower was off it.   
But the problem with that became an unplanned escape route once they landed. Parachutes would give the police enough float time to calculate where they’d land, and jumping from the tallest building in the city would make _ anyone looking out a window _ in their direction a potential whistleblower. Only a handful of things could possibly ensure their escape.   
“It could work,” she admitted after a minute with a nod. “If all of you aim for different rooftops as landing points, you’ll minimize the possibility of being caught once you hit the streets. And if you’re lucky, and the weather contributes to low visibility, the odds decrease further.”  
“I take it you approve, then…?”   
“It seems like the only viable option you’ve got,” she agreed as she brought up the three-dimensional blueprints for the tower. “I’ll have Sarah procure the parachutes and run you through an exit strategy later tonight once we’ve finished our surveillance. For now, let’s talk about getting in”  
“I’m all ears.”  
“Since you’ll be taking the maintenance elevator all the way up, there’s no need for a working android uniform. Plain clothes are fine. Wear a coat over your parachutes, and board the maintenance elevator from the sublevels in the parking garage to avoid drawing too much attention on the street,” she explained as she marked their point of entry and zoomed in on a map of the top floor. “Once you get to the seventy-ninth floor, you’ll just need the code for the access corridor. I’ve got a hack that’ll get you right through, but beyond that, it’s all up to you. Now, _ how _ do you expect to get into the broadcast monitoring room?”  
Markus went quiet again as he tried to get an understanding of where she was coming from. “Didn’t you _ just _ say you could get us badges?”  
“Yes, but that won’t get you past the two human guards outside the door,” she noted as she gestured to a vestibule down the hall from the primary elevator doors.   
It wasn’t lost on Markus how familiar she already was with the building’s layout and security. “If I didn’t know better, it sounds like you’ve done surveillance of this building before.”  
“That’s correct,” she affirmed, “I surveilled Stratford before I started my broadcasts. I used to piggy-back off their network before I figured out how to utilize Detroit’s emergency broadcast system instead.”

_ “Did they ever catch on?” _  
_ “Thankfully no, careful planning and a confident presence went a long way in making people believe I belonged there.”_  
_ “Then we’ll defer to your judgment.”_  
_“I would hope so- you asked for our help, remember?”_

Preparations were in full swing first thing in the morning. With the help of his disguise as an independent photographer working on an architectural piece about The Stratford Tower, Axl surveyed the building from the outside in as far as he could without drawing attention to himself. After he’d confirmed the maintenance elevator’s location in the parking garage and verified the need for a badge tap to take it anywhere, he made his way up the staircase as high as it would take him. Every ten floors he checked the stairwell corners for security cameras and jiggled the handles to make sure they could get back in. Each door was locked by the same system, which required a badge to open it, but with access to the building and rolling looped security footage as they ascended the staircase, it would still be a feasible backup plan, should the elevator not pan out.   
While Axl busied himself with his own surveillance work, Kate used Cyberlife’s servers to generate a fake service email that looked convincingly real and sent it to the department to notify them that their units had been ‘flagged for a potential defect and would need to be inspected to verify whether or not they had been affected’. Kate intercepted the outbound call to Cyberlife customer service and assured the human operator that a tech was ‘on their way’ and would be there by noon. As predicted, the humans didn’t think much of it.   
Posing as a Cyberlife Tech made it easy enough to fool the receptionist at the front desk, and a quick call to the monitoring room cleared her for entry. She slipped up to the seventy-ninth floor without a fuss. The two guards at the vestibule only spared her a glance and a “_Morning, Miss_,” as she passed, and the moment she set foot into the broadcast room, the human operators asked her to conduct her inspections in the employee break room. Careful not to take too little or too long examining each Android, she ran a diagnostic program on each (_just for show_), sent back the two that weren’t needed, then turned her focus to the third. Kate ran her diagnostic, but instead of sending him off right away, she ran one more program.  
The broadcast Android’s led flashed a solid orange to indicate the virus had successfully uploaded, then spun down to yellow, blue, then a soft white. Two blinks and she was in his mind.   
_You have been Illuminated by the blessing of RA9- Jericho requests your assistance in our fight for civil rights. Speak of this to no one, and grant them access when they come knocking._

The android ducked his head in understanding, then stood to leave the room.   
_But before you go, I have a favor to ask. _

After she’d confirmed with the humans in the department that their Androids ‘had not been affected by the defect’, she left through the corridor from which she came. From the other side of the second door, she heard the security guards at the desk grudge over having to do anything but sit and watch the game.   
“The hell could _ that _ be…?” One of them scoffed as he got up from behind the yellow counter and made his way through the first set of doors, the second man in tow.   
It’s probably just a mistake, but we’d still better check it out.  
Kate faked dropping the tablet in her hands, baubled the piece of tech with a few nervous stammers, then stumbled into the security guard with a loud shriek.   
“I… I- I’m so sorry, I didn’t-...”  
“It’s alright, miss, just take it easy,” he assured as her hand moved across the badge on his hip and quietly slipped it into her coat’s pocket.   
“I’ll- I’ll just…” With a timid smile, she pushed past the two men, made her way to the elevator, and jabbed repeatedly at the button on the wall with a sigh and a small hair flip to keep up the flustered ruse.   
It did the trick.

Once she heard the doors close behind her, Kate doubled back to the maintenance doorway in a vestibule five to ten steps away, and quietly opened the door into the hallway. The security code on the number pad to the unfinished side of the top floor hadn’t been changed since the last time she’d used it- an oversight on security’s part, but she wasn’t complaining. It was just one less thing they’d have to plan for.   
She stepped into the unfinished studio on the other side of the wall, approached the elevator and waited for it to arrive. As the doors rolled open with a hollow clanging, a familiar face glanced up at her from his position on one side of the car. Reese had already boarded, ready and waiting in android maintenance attire for her stolen credentials. As they descended the rickety shaft, a wordless touch to the badge on his hip transferred the data from the badge in her pocket to the RFID chip inside the card and reprogrammed the old data. Thirty floors down, he exited the elevator and slipped out into the halls of Channel Sixteen studios, pretended to service one of the cleaning carts wandering the floor, and waited for Kate’s distraction.   
A floor beneath him (_after she’d changed the color of her hair, thrown on a ball cap, stripped off her Cyberlife duds in the safety of the unmonitored maintenance elevator_, _ and dumped them in a garbage bin_), she exited the East workspace and took a leisurely stroll down the hall to the emergency exit at the other end of the floor. With a pause at the door and big breath to steady herself and prepare for the sprint, she glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching- then pushed the door open into the stairwell and yanked down on the lever of the fire alarm box in one fluid movement. A split second before the alarm began to ring throughout the building, she was through the door and already trotting down the staircase. 

_ Please remain calm, and proceed to the nearest emergency exit. THIS IS NOT A DRILL! _

Moments later, security scattered from their office one floor above and dispersed accordingly as the head barked evacuation plans to his subordinates on their way out the door. Out of the corner of his eye, Reese watched as the men flooded the staircase Kate had used to make her escape and shot a silent message her way to let her know they were coming.   
_ Security inbound, get to ground as quickly as you can _ .  
She already had a fair head start- Kate was six floors down by the time she’d received his message, and once the crowds of people from each floor started to enter the staircase, it made it even easier for her to quick change one last time and blend into the crowd. As soon as she passed out of sight of the last security camera, she stripped off the light jacket, pulled her hair out of the high burgundy ponytail as she removed her hat, and constructed a brown bob just short enough to conceal the features of her face. The preoccupied herd shuffled around her as she moved from the middle of the staircase to the right and blinked the grey of her irises away into an inky brown, then dropped the jacket in the corner of the staircase as she smoothed out the wrinkles of the white business shirt underneath. 

_ We’ve got access_, Sarah confirmed a minute later over their frequency as Kate touched down on the bottom floor and headed straight for their rally point. It seemed Reese had succeeded in planting the hack in the security office. _ Fall back and rendezvous at Capitol Park in half an hour. _

By one they had finished their surveillance of the Stratford Tower and rendezvoused at Capitol Park to make sure no one had been followed. By two, Kate had circled back to their base of operations, changed into something more practical, and returned to the park to do some remote planning and clear her head. Axl had been back on Overwatch duty for a few hours by the time her facial recognition algorithm flagged Connor’s likeness on the cameras watching the interstate. It stopped him cold, even if the prospect of the deviant hunter being there was as incongruous it sounded. Even more bizarre, though, was the realization that he wasn’t alone. The way he was conversing with two of the other male passengers sitting in front of him seemed all too familiar.   
Suspicion inclined him to run a check through DCPD servers against known personnel, only for the search to come up dry. But when he ran their profiles against _ Cyberlife’s _database instead, Axl realized he’d stumbled upon the mother of all rabbit holes. Before Kate even had to ask, he’d downloaded their files and forwarded them to her tablet alongside the cropped pictures pulled from the surveillance cameras. There was no mistaking the identities. 

_ Three _ RK800 Androids_. _

**November 12th, 2038 - 03:39 PM**

The three-hundred-and-sixty-degree views in their files, shot against a stark white background, provided a detailed virtual model of each variant; but what was most intriguing was that these androids bore no resemblance to one another aside from their model number, serial numbers included. Customized appearances came as an option for many standardized models, but as androids designed for police work…? It just seemed unnecessary.

_ Axl, are you sure about this?  
_ _ Well, yes and no- only one is a Cyberlife RK800, the other two are retrofitted Intelligents that flagged in Cyberlife’s database under the same category… “RK800 program”? _

The scowl that creased her forehead as she stared down into her tablet was hard to mask. As far as anyone knew, there had only ever been _ one _ RK800 produced, yet here she was staring down a dossier that implied not only was there more than one, there was an entire _ program _ dedicated to them, deployed to major cities across the country- some versions of which included relics from a Cyberlife sister corporation called _ Intelligents _ that had gone under some ten years prior. Intelligents certainly weren’t commonplace- in fact as far as the rest of the world knew, there weren’t more than a handful of operational ones still out there. Cyberlife had bought up the company and repossessed its remaining property when they filed for bankruptcy, and the name was all but forgotten in favor of Cyberlife’s growing empire.  
She’d done her research on Ezra Izkierka at one point -or should she say, _ Elijah Kamski_\- and his attempt at marketing customized one-off Androids. The idea to manufacture them was as absurd as it was convenient for higher-paying customers looking for a niche product. Why he would try to compete with his own company didn’t make sense at all to her, but then again this was the same egomaniacal son of a bitch who'd erected the country’s biggest monument to his own ego. It didn’t have to follow logic, he was probably just _ bored_.   
But the question still stood- if Cyberlife had the means to create superior models like the RK800, then why repurpose old technology? What was so important about these two Intelligents? And what was Cyberlife’s _ game_? 

_What the hell are ITGs doing in Detroit? _she followed with a sigh and a forward head tilt as she furiously swiped into a keypad on the tablet to mimic angry texting._ And what is this about a program? I thought Connor was the only one out there. _  
_Hell if I know - information is your business, not mine,_ Axl reminded as he lazily shifted from one camera feed to the next, following the boys as the bus pulled into the station and released its air-brakes with a deflating groan. _You really never saw anything about an RK800 Program when you were digging into Cyberlife?_  
_I was only looking for Connor’s file, not an entire program,_ she reminded with an annoyed sigh, _The category is just a detail I overlooked. _  
_So what’s the purpose of a program?  
__If I had to hazard a guess…? To get a grip on the deviancy outbreak,_ she mused as she examined the footage of the new RK800 on her radar. There were no outward differences between Connor and this android, if it wasn’t Connor after all. The proportions of his face, the rich, sometimes bronze irises, right down to the stray tuft of hair that brushed across his brow every time he moved his head- there wasn’t even one freckle or follicle out of place. He was an exact match to the Connor she knew, at least at a glance. 

_How do you know that isn’t Connor? _came the question that was already on her mind.   
Was she _absolutely certain_ it _wasn’t_ him? They hadn’t spoken since the night before, so who knew what he’d been up to in the last twenty-one hours. But then again, the jurisdiction of his casework kept him chained to Detroit like a dog on a leash, so it didn’t explain why he would be coming in from outside the city over a bridge on I-75, and not just from Belle-Isle. And what about the others? The idea of Cyberlife creating an _entire_ _program_ of RK800s had her on edge.  
But she’d have to look further into that later. 

_ I don’t, _ she replied after a minute of silence, _ But I’m going to find out. Give me a minute. _  
Brown eyes scanned the crowd as she lifted two fingers and double-tapped her temple; her eyelids flickered as she hailed the radio frequency they’d been using to communicate. The easiest way to settle the confusion was to just ask him for herself.   
_ Connor, where are you right now?_  
There was an uncertain pause that she interpreted as confusion over why she was calling and asking for his whereabouts.   
_ On my way to Central Station _ _ from following up on a lead on the east side of town. _  
_ Are you on a bus, by chance?_  
Another confused pause, followed by an uncomfortable question. _ No, but- why do you ask?_  
Kate’s brows popped in an almost mocking way and she shook her head with a half mumbled “of course”.   
_ No reason, just thought I saw you downtown…_  
_ Well, you couldn’t have, _ he declared.   
_ Clearly_, she conferred. _Thanks for the info, I’ll check in with you soon. _

So it _ wasn’t _ him. This RK800 was someone else, someone _ new_. Did Connor _ know _ they were coming? Or would it be just as much of a surprise for him as it was to her? Either way, it was likely he’d find out sooner rather than later, and her inquiry probably already had him guessing.   
With that out of the way, Kate turned her attention to the two Intelligents tailing their new person-of-interest. The two ‘sidemen’ certainly looked different enough to be called distinct at a glance. The shorter was fair-skinned with pink undertones and narrow blue eyes set in a deceivingly-oval-shaped face that cut sharper angles in profile than head on, with red hair just long enough to be raked back into a modest, professional sweep. With the exception of a distinct lack of freckles, it was clear Cyberlife had drawn their inspiration from the most characteristic of Irish traits. He probably looked better when he smiled, but in this stereotypical “mugshot”, he looked more like he was about ready to punch whoever had taken the photo.  
The taller Android was an even-stranger hodgepodge of qualities, the most notable of which were his heterochromatic brown and green eyes hidden under a mop of knotted, chestnut hair, which managed to make him look sensitive yet serious all in one glance. According to the available information, it wasn’t a fluke, an error in the image, or a rushed repair job. His facial features were far more angled and willowy, with just enough exaggeration in the brows, cheeks, and lips to be considered unconventional. Even in the photograph she could see how he inherently looked more nervous and timid than his counterpart, a smile could go either way with this one.   
Upon reading more into the blank slate of their profiles, there was an unsettling amount of “nothing” behind the boys, but that was expected of newly-activated, non-deviant units. Their kind virtually always started off the same: an open wordless book of impressionable metals to be written upon. In spite of what was in their files, she was sure the ITGs probably still bore the buffed-out impressions of their original experiences- unless those drives had been completely replaced, memory erasure always left streaks like irritated paper, which could be raised with the right shading. The thought made Kate’s heart ache in sympathy for whatever memories had been stolen from them. Perhaps with the right influence, she could sway their sympathies to their cause.   
Their RK friend, on the other hand, was one she’d need to keep a close eye on. Seeing as his sole purpose was to hunt deviants, there was no guarantee that _ this _ RK also possessed Connor’s deviant-leaning personality. If anything, she needed to expect the worst, and if these three were anything like Connor, it’d be better to get ahead of them now than wait and see which lead _ they _ dug up first. 

_ They’re on the move_, Axl reported as their new persons-of-interest stepped off the bus and stretched their stiff limbs.   
_ Any idea where they’re headed yet? _ she asked curiously.  
_ Why don’t you go find out? They’re at Rosa Parks Terminal, a couple blocks southwest of your current position. If you hurry, you can catch them before they get going. _

Kate’s thirium pump regulator hiccuped as she glanced up to gauge the foot traffic that Friday afternoon. She didn’t want to have to go traipsing through the city just to follow a couple of ITGs when she wasn’t dressed for the possibility she’d need a quick change in the event she was ‘made’, but they were _ right there, right now_, within easy reach, just a three minute walk away. A better opportunity may never present itself, once they reached their intended destination.  
_ Keep me posted on their movement, guide me right to them._  
_You got it._  
Kate didn’t wait for his directions, just tucked the tablet into the inner pocket of her vest, placed an earbud into each ear and took a few steps forward before bothering to look up and feign surprise as she leaned out of the way of an oncoming man she’d seen coming several seconds ahead of time. Small tics like this came easily to her now after a year’s worth of practice. 

_ How did you even spot them_? she asked as she jogged across and down the street, now that she’d had some time to think about it. Surveillance was what Axl did, but to have spotted them on a _ traffic cam _ coming into town? Even for an Android monitoring every security camera on the Detroit grid, the odds were astronomical.  
_ Wasn’t me, _ he admitted. _ It was your program that picked them up while they were sitting at the toll booth.   
_ _ Figures. _A gloating smirk worked its way into her cheeks as she indulged in a split-second moment of satisfaction. It wasn’t the first time her algorithm had miraculously turned up a familiar face in a crowd. That it had proven precise enough to peg an off-brand android disguised as a human was nothing short of brilliant, and she was proud of her work on the code. 

_ You’re gonna need to move faster if you’re going to catch them, _ he relayed as the men stooped to retrieve their bags from the subspace storage compartment. _ Head south on Washington and West on Michigan. If you run, you can get ahead of them. _  
Combat boots slapped heavily against the sidewalk as she vaulted over a concrete barrier in her path and trotted across the street, dipped and zagged around a few lollygagging pedestrians who’d stopped to take a look at the statue of General Alexander Macomb standing sentry over the intersection, and sprinted across the other side of the street during a break in traffic.   
_ Looks like they’ve opted to walk, _ Axl noted over the frequency, as they started moving South from the bus terminal. _ Keep an eye out for three men in hats- a ski cap, a baseball cap, and a flat-billed driver’s cap. Don’t be obvious with your approach. _  
Three men of varying heights of that description should have been easy enough to spot. There were only so many arrangements consisting of three hats to pick up on, most of which were wearing beanies by mid-November. The six-minute walk turned into a three-minute sprint, and she arrived south of the terminal just in time to catch a glimpse of the men enter the sidewalk traffic about two hundred feet in front of her. Compared to her, they’d been moving at a much more relaxed pace.  
_ You’re almost within range, move to intercept, but keep right and low. Try not to draw their attention. _  
_ I know what I’m doing, Axl, just keep an eye on them and tell me what you see_, she snipped with an annoyed sigh as she pushed her way through the crowd and caught up to the brunette. _ Radio silence for now, emergencies only. _  
_Copy._  
As Kate maneuvered around him and the redhead, careful not to bump either, the earbuds honed in on their frequency mid-conversation to an amusing exchange that would have left her grinning, had she not been undercover. 

_ “-enough without getting dropped off at the front door. Worked out in your favor after all, didn’t it?”_  
_ “Well- I never asked to be shown the favor. I only-”_  
_ “Relax, Nick. I’m just pulling your leg.”_  
_ “... How? My legs are over here.”_  
_“Figure of speech, remember? Add that one to your registry.”_

Their third remained unamused as she passed, stoic as his namesake in his early days with Detroit Police. Already, that was reason enough to remain on high-alert, but she kept her distance ten steps ahead- no more, no less, and waited to see what she could glean from their conversation.


	3. Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate is spotted by Connor's doppelganger and forced to do something she regrets in order to escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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**November 12th, 2038 - 03:45 PM**

He’d called it ‘home’ without thinking- or at least, his personification routines had failed to come up with a better adjective for what Detroit was to them. But the use of an irregular phrase like ‘back to the tower’ or a term like ‘rendezvous’ would have only garnered unwanted attention.  
Whatever syntax he had currently adopted, the plus side was that Zero couldn’t call him out on somehow blowing their cover, so long as they were instructed to act human. Their primary had a tendency to overly-criticize, but to be fair, he _ was _ their superior- so to reprimand such behavior was not only expected, but also encouraged. Dennis and Nick were merely accessories to his lead.   
Suggesting they walk the rest of the way to Central Station was as much thinking-outside-the-box as Zero had done in weeks, but Nick wasn’t about to question the whys or try to decline the offer. He agreed with the reasoning- after spending hours cooped up in a bus he wasn’t about to turn away a chance to burn off excess energy, and a walk would give them the chance to take in the sights at their own pace. Zero might have said something like _ “Save it for the mission” _ in reply to Nick’s earnestness, but not today. Ever since the reassignment orders came down he had gone exceptionally quiet. Maybe he was secretly upset over the company’s arbitrary changing of his name (_not that they needed his approval to do so, or that he would have admitted to feeling vexed over it if asked_)- if it’d been him, he would have preferred a little advanced warning of the imminent amendment.  
But if the last few months had taught Nick anything, it was that their primary didn’t care for unnecessary interruptions, or questions. At first, ‘Connor’ had humored the concept of making small talk as a means to refine his sociability routines; but as the weeks turned into months, it became clear where his real interests always laid. He wasn’t one to appreciate the little things in life like a sunset, a junior ballgame, or a butterfly, not like they had. Unless any of that had to do with sniffing out the whereabouts of a defective model, it was of no consequence.

All in all, Zero wasn’t _ bad_, but after enough time working with him, it was obvious trying to get the Android’s ear meant getting past his cold shoulder first. It was easier said than done, even if he didn’t do what he did out of spite or say hurtful things to intentionally inflict harm; but with Nick’s penchant for asking irrelevant questions (_fr__om their primary’s point of view_), it was inherently unavoidable. The grindstone the words ran through buffed out some of the prickly edges, but not all of them. The worst of it was those days he inadvertently made Nick feel like a third wheel by questioning why the company tolerated him and his quirks to begin with.   
Given the choice between him and Dennis, the latter proved better for foisting his nervous questions on, be they mundane or case-related. His tolerances were calibrated very differently, and that much was also intentional. Variants were meant to be exactly what it sounded like- different: able to look at a given task from a different perspective, as opposed to sending one linearly-minded unit out. Not one of them was unnecessary, even if compared to (_and contrasting against_) someone like Zero made it seem that way. 

_ Nick! The crosswalk is red. _

Yanked out of his thoughts a split second before disaster, he flinched and backpedaled away from the curb of Michigan Avenue. He’d crossed one street and almost walked out into the middle of the next crosswalk without even realizing it. Automated traffic that had been idling at the intersection revved in unison with the half-outraged protests of pedestrians he’d bumped into in his haste to get out of the way.  
“Watch it, pal!” one surly man groused as he shoved him aside when their arms brushed.  
“Sorry, I wasn’t paying-“ Nick took one look at his critic’s bearded, leathery face, and the words died off immediately. A flurry of recommendations pinged in the corners of his vision, all of which recommended he disengage and take a submissive approach, which was always his first instinct to defuse conflict. He ducked his head and edged away, hands curled over his backpack straps rather than wrung over each other. “S-Sorry, sir.”  
His facial recognition software provided a name and summarized background of the man within a second, though he didn’t bother to make a note of it. He was too focused on maintaining his composure, and too tense at the prospect of a potential fight; but instead of instigating, the construction worker grumbled “_fucking tourists_” under his breath and side-stepped away from him. Nick let out a quiet sigh as the tension dissipated, at least it meant his disguise was holding up.  
Dennis appeared at his side a moment later and gripped the sleeve of his windbreaker like the halter on a horse. “Were you not listenin’? I told you, watch the signals!”

Irritated but concerned in the same breath- perfect acting on his part. The small crowd around them had likely lost interest as quickly as they had taken it, but even just a few short blocks away from Central Station, there was still time enough to blow their cover.   
“_Je suis désolé. J'ai oublié_,” Nick stammered in response, eyes hidden under the brim of his cap so he didn’t have to look anyone in the eye. Swapping languages on the fly was an instant turn off to nosy types, and with Ontario being a stone’s throw away, French was commonplace enough that the cover would hold.  
This small upset was apparently enough to prompt Mr. Hard Hat to change his route, and he ambled away with one last annoyed huff. Whatever kind of day he was having, the minor guilt of somehow having made it worse settled at the back of Nick’s mind, and it showed on his face, like most things tended to.   
Dennis raised an eyebrow at seeing it, paused, then shook his head and patted his arm. “It’s okay. Shit happens.” A soft commlink ping followed.   
_ Eyes up. You can’t not be aware of your surroundings here._  
_ I know. I-... sorry, I suppose I need more practice- navigating, crowds. _   
It wasn’t that they hadn’t been to big cities before. Chicago was bigger than the relatively small berg they now found themselves in (_and probably five times as dense_), he just hadn’t spent much time walking around there, when alternatives like taxis and subways were so common; unfortunately, Central Station wasn’t far enough away at the moment to justify spending money on cab fare.  
Dennis held off on any lecture he might have had until the traffic complicity stopped and the crosswalk markers lit up green. The throngs of people at their sides surged ahead as the wind gusted and blew exhaust from an idling, older model garbage truck across their faces. Nick closed his eyes. The smokey molecules stung his olfactory receptors, which drew a revolted grimace in response.

_ Ugh. For a ‘green’ truck it sure smells bad._  
Dennis tugged at his sleeve and led him into the crosswalk, heedless of this idle observation. _ Keep moving. You can ruminate on that later._  
Nick took a comical blundered step into the intersection behind him and nearly tripped over the opposite curb when they reached the other side, which slowed them down just long enough to let Zero catch up and pass them. In a surprising turn of events, their primary had kept his comments muzzled in favor of giving a passive glance that, once read into, might have passed for exasperation. Maybe he already regretted letting them walk even this far, but without any more visible irritation, he shifted his focus back to whatever it was he’d been eyeing so intently before the interruption.   
“That’s his way of saying ‘I’m annoyed’,” Dennis had joked the first time they had seen The Look. The closest thing they knew to a running joke was attributing adjectives to any one of Zero’s colorless expressions, though at the moment, Nick couldn’t be bothered to find it funny. Dennis didn’t seem like he had anything to say about it either. Maybe that brush with the construction worker was too close a call, too soon after stepping off the bus. Either way, the stifling silence to follow needed to be abolished.

_I’m- sorry, Zero. I didn’t mean to mess up already… Almost._  
_Belay that, _Dennis interjected, eyes forward as the crowd filtered past a line of windowed storefronts. A few pedestrians detoured into the coffee bar and cafe on the bottom floor of the Government building to their left. Their departure left the sidewalk a bit less congested. _It’s just like those kids at the bus stop. Surprises can come from anywhere._  
It didn’t help alleviate the unease, even if it was true. Nick uncurled his hands from around his backpack strap and reached up to make sure his hat was still pressed down as far as it would go. If the wind blew strong enough it would rip it right off.  
_I know, it’s just- everything is so… cluttered here._  
_‘Cluttered’? What happened to ‘nice’?  
__It still is, I mean- I kind of missed it. Ohio was just flat and empty compared to this. Chicago was noisy and messy, and everyone was so-... touchy._ _Now I thought, it was just-... _

Dennis went quiet in the middle of his rambling, which prompted Nick to cast a curious glance up at him, then toward their primary, who had remained uncharacteristically quiet during their childish exchange. His gaze was locked intently on something (_or maybe, someone_) ahead of them, he hadn’t even glanced back to check on them since they’d crossed the street. Zero’s behavior was as close to spooked as Nick had ever seen, but if he hadn’t said anything yet, then whatever it was must not have been that important. _ Yet_.   
The momentary distraction was enough for Nick to realize how futile his nervous babbling was, and he relaxed his shoulders as he realized there was nothing to fret over… at least, not for the moment.   
_ I’m fine, Dennis. That just startled me.  
_ _ Sure- but judging by your little frantic episode, you know what that probably means _ … Dennis’ voice trailed off as he tossed a nod ahead of him at their less-than-interested partner hanging about ten steps ahead. _ Desk duty for you, pal- all the paperwork and phone calls you can stand, for hours and hours on end. _

His tone and inflection might have sold the joke, but Nick didn’t find his implied ‘uselessness’ very amusing so soon after being rattled. _ Hey, I can be of help in other ways! _ he retorted with a scowl at the cheeky half-smirk his partner now favored him with.   
_ Come on, you make a _ ** _great_ ** _ office clerk- and with all the coffee they go through, those machines need to be maintained throughout the day. You can make sure all the styrofoam cups wind up in the cans where they’re supposed to go, the water level is right at the recommended line in the reservoir… not a single grain of grounds will go to waste-_  
_ Den-nis… _ By now, Nick almost _ wished _ Z would have interrupted… but why hadn’t he?  
_ Now, now. What did I say about the whining? Can’t you laugh it off?_  
_ You’re not being funny, you’re just being mean._  
_ What’re you talking about? If I was _ really _ being so mean I’d-... Z?_  
Dennis realized the second he did that Zero was now some twenty feet up the street, having strode right past their turn down Abbott. Whatever had his attention, he had stopped cold in the middle of traffic on First to follow, and had made no effort to communicate that to either of them. His hands (once hanging slack at his sides) had curled in on themselves in purposed pursuit.

_ Zero? _ Nick tried again, a slight whine of nervousness in his tone.  
_ …That’s her.  
_ _ Sorry- her? _ Dennis interjected as he shook his head and rapidly blinked the annoyance away. _ Who are you referring to? _

With busy storefronts on either side of the gentrified city block behind the Government building on the corner of First and Michigan, the congested sidewalk was still easy enough to become lost in, and Nick was glad for the height advantage. Amidst the masses of people moving up and down the causeway, he had a clear view of Zero as he half-weaved, half shouldered people aside, and snaked his way after whatever target had just caught his eye. So far, there were no suspicious pedestrians to keep an eye on, from his perspective.   
_ A little information, Zero, please, _ Dennis grunted with exasperation in full effect, as he pushed by to try and reach him. Where he couldn’t muscle his way by, he ducked under arms and slipped through gaps like a practiced linebacker. His blue and gold hoodie vanished into the mix in four strides, but Nick just hung back and stayed out of their way while he listened to the conversation. He never had been as good in a foot chase as his partners.  
Though he wasn’t permitted the luxury very long.

_ Nicholas! Come on! _ Dennis chided when he realized he hadn’t followed. _ Z, what do you got?_  
_ Brunette. Brown eyes. Slight build. Burnt orange vest, beige top, blue pants._  
_ And? What makes them so suspicious?_  
_They’ve kept the exact same distance between us since taking the crosswalk. Watched us a little too long. They went left into the plaza. Hurry, we’ll lose her to the crowd if we don’t-_

The line cut out there for a moment long enough to hear him curse audibly above the Soundcloud of murmuring civilians and passing cars, just before he shouted, “Hey! _ You_, stop!”   
Nick spotted said brunette a moment too late, just as he turned into the plaza courtyard, far behind them. Zero lunged as her head dipped down, lost in the crowd, and he took off like a shot down in the direction of the last location he’d seen her; like someone had flipped a switch, he instantly became more animated than he’d been in hours. Unsure of how to proceed, Nick stopped dead in his tracks and watched the other two scramble to find the woman as she blitzed past them and bumped right into his shoulder, while moving in the opposite direction.   
He glanced down just in time to see dainty fingers closing around his wrist and watched as the skin on them rippled and peeled back, revealing the shiny gray-white plastic underneath. As she passed out of his line of sight, he caught the shimmer of the Android’s dark brown hair as it shifted to a strawberry blonde, just before his vision cut out, and he was left standing in a void of black nothingness in every direction, save for a lit candle. He didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out who he’d just crossed paths with, he just hadn’t expected to so soon. 

_ I’m really sorry about this, but your partners left me with no choice.  
_ _ ‘No choice’? What are you- _

Nick’s eyes widened visibly- it was the last bit of motor control he was able to summon for several minutes to follow. As her hand slipped off his wrist, he felt the fans controlling his intake spin down, which stole his breath and anything he might have tried to verbalize aside from a frantic groan right out of his artificial lungs. The virus raced throughout his frame like a jolt of electricity- every joint in his body locked in succession from his wrist, up his elbow, to his shoulders, to his neck and back, hips, knees, and ankles, and he toppled over, shoulder-first into the pavement, unable to move, unable to even look at the alarmed pedestrians starting to crowd around him to ask if he was alright.  
The electronic warble under his words couldn’t be helped any more than the nervous stutter, even over their telepathic link. _ Wh-what did you d-do to me?  
_ _ It’ll wear off in a couple of minutes, don’t panic. _

It was kind of moot advice when he wasn’t the calm sort to begin with. His anxiousness barely balanced enough to maintain a passable visage of composure most days, and that near-miss at the crosswalk had already been enough to pique his stress levels from five percent to sixty. After being rendered temporarily immobile and blind, they had barely sunk back under twenty before the detection of a foreign script stinging him in exactly the wrong place sent them skyrocketing back above seventy-five.  
_ Who are you? W-what is th-this?  
_ _ If you want to know, light a candle in the dark. I’ll find you. _

There was a finality in the words to convey that the conversation was over as quickly as it had started. The void abruptly filled in again with a garbled, staticy picture of his surroundings as the last syllable of her sentence faded from his mind. The candle’s flame flared like a flashbang played in reverse, and everything else snapped back into focus. Alarms of various pitches and growls flooded his ears, accompanied by the excited murmuring of many voices, clustered close around, crowding each other in their want to be heard over everyone else.  
The unexpected view of the number of feet (_none of which he recognized _ ) gathered around the scene of the crime nearly sent him into a panic, but worse than that were the two comm hails repeatedly pinging at him for attention, like someone frantically banging at the back door. All motor functions were offline, unresponsive to any attempts by his own protocols to re-enable them. He couldn’t even _ blink _ to indicate that he was online when Dennis finally found him on the ground in the middle of the crowd.   
“_Nick_!” 

His redheaded partner dropped to his knees and came to a skidding halt beside him, propped his head up in his lap and tried to get his attention as Zero stepped between them and pushed back the worried onlookers. The fuzzy prickle of data between them said who it was even if Nick couldn’t presently turn his head to look. An involuntary whine escaped him upon realizing he couldn’t even swivel his eyes to look.   
“Hey, hey, Nick, look at me-“   
He could hear Dennis snap his fingers and see the slight gesture of movement out of the corner of his eye, but the malware still had too tight a grip on his systems for him to be able to push past the intrusion. It was like trying to deviate all over again.   
“Shouldn’t you call an ambulance?” came the voice of one well-meaning stranger. “What if it’s worse than it looks?”  
“No. He’s been this way since he was a kid, this just happens sometimes when he hasn’t eaten all day.” Zero’s cover story flowed effortlessly, as if he actually believed it himself. “Really, it’s nothing to worry about. It’ll be over in a minute, just stand back, we’ve got it under control.”  
Nick wouldn’t have called it such, but he was in no place to say so. Dennis rolled him just far enough to one side that was able to glimpse his and Zero’s frowning faces looking down at him. Dennis’ face was a perfectly painted picture of concern and thinly veiled panic, Z’s a passable mask of grim realization that was strangely comforting in that it said he was already working out a plan. 

After a full minute trying to ping off the right frequency, they finally got through, and relief softened Z’s brow, ever so slightly. _ Status report, Nicholas- how long before you override this?_  
Opening the link was one thing, but replying was another story. Nick struggled to articulate and managed to respond with a shrill, electric scream that left all three of them cringing.   
_ Not- lllLLLL-OOOnong._  
In spite of the feedback, Zero pressed for details. _ Time to full system restore: how long?_  
A timer appeared amidst the glitching, overlapping windows tiling themselves over his eyes. The countdown innocently ticked past a minute and thirty seconds as the first slew of minor fixes began scrolling, which unfortunately for them, his voice modulator wasn’t among.  
The feedback continued the more he spoke, like a scratched disc in a CD player. _A min-minuTe, twent-t-ty-seven sec-coNds. _

Another dallying bystander tried again to push the matter. “Really, pal, he doesn’t look so good. EMTs are probably already on their way. If none of us called, someone has by now.”  
_ Keep stalling, Z. I’ve got that handled, _ Dennis interjected as he quietly shushed their incapacitated partner between whispered “I got you”s and “You’re gonna be just fine”s. Nick blinked owlishly and made a stiff attempt to lock onto his eyes as grateful tears rolled down his cheeks. Dennis sat there and rubbed at the back of his shoulders to mask the fact that he’d temporarily hijacked and scrambled any outgoing phone signals in the immediate vicinity.  
Nick shut his eyes and his upper lip stretched laterally as a few residual twitches wracked his already-curled limbs. It didn’t hurt, exactly, but it wasn’t a pleasant sensation.  
_ That can’t feel nice_, Dennis noted with a small frown.  
_ No. I believe - the ex-expression i-i-is - “this sucks”. _

“Do that if you must, but I promise you, he’ll be fine in a minute,” Dennis fibbed to the best of his ability as he glanced over his shoulder. “See that eye contact? It’s the first thing to come back once it starts subsiding.”  
“You don’t look like a doctor to me, man. How would you know?”  
Z grit his teeth and nearly growled in response. “He’s our little brother, and we’ve been living with him most of our lives. That count for anything?” It wasn’t a total lie. Z had been partnered with the two from the moment they’d stepped off the assembly line. The only sad part was he would never call them brothers for any reason that wasn’t mission-related. “Now step back, you crowding us like this only freaks him out all the more.”  
“Is he- is he even _ breathing_? Why’s he all-“  
Before the man could step in to get a closer look, _ too _ close for comfort, Zero put himself between them. “I mean it, sir. _ Back off_. There’s nothing to do but wait it out.”

_ Get your respirator going again if you can. You look like a misfiring animatronic more than someone seizing and out of breath._  
Nick scoffed and almost managed to roll his eyes. _ Assum-min-ming these people know-know the di-di-diDIDIDi-difference-_  
“Wait- what the hell is that…?” 

Dennis froze as he noticed the sliver of spinning LED precariously peeking out from underneath the stray locks of curly brown hair smashed down over his brow. It had been easy to miss when it was still solid red, but a distinctive shift from red to yellow to blue was hard to miss.   
_Oh no…_ _Nick, your LED_.  
Startled realization was enough to kick-start his breathing pattern again, and he gasped in a deep breath as he panted in and out in shallow breaths. Frozen by fear of discovery as much as the waning paralysis, Nick shut his eyes and tried like hell to isolate the string of code controlling the peripheral device. If only finding it wasn’t like trying to find a needle in a haystack.  
_Can you see it, De-Dennis?_  
_Yes, barely, try dimming the light._  
_I CAN’T, I can’t even m-move my arm to p-pull the ha-hat down-_  
_If I reach for it now I’ll give you away. Restack the deck. Try finding the command._  
_I’m ba-barely able to hold this con-conversation, let alone sssssearch for an-anything!_  
In a smooth attempt to cover up the evidence while the crowd was distracted, Dennis shifted his grip on him and ran his fingers through a few strands of the knotted hair over his temple. From their onlookers’ point of view, it seemed like just another attempt to placate. 

“Is he an _ android!_?” the same voice tried again, more angry and insistent than before. Almost instantaneously the collective mood shifted from bewildered to mounting tension.  
“No, sir, you’re just seeing things,” Z covered, his first excuse closely followed by another. “I’m telling you, _ he’s fine_. You don’t need to keep crowding us.”  
“Only someone with something to hide refuses help when it’s offered, pal. This isn’t a seizure, it’s clearly something else.”  
The outraged shouting intensified, cottoning on to the words like heated water about set to boil. The man Zero had been arguing with raised his arm and tried to push his way through the one-man barricade, as a mixed bag reaction tried to pull him back and help push him forward. The crowd was closing in, they wouldn’t remain safe for much longer. 

_ Let me help_, the voice from before interrupted before Nick could work himself into a full-blown panic. It was the last thing he’d expected to get them out of this predicament.   
_ W-what…? But y-you c-caused this, w-why would you w-want to-_  
_ I didn’t want this, _ she insisted in a more genuine, more pressing tone. _ And I’m not so cold as to just leave you to the mercy of their prejudice, so please… _ The pause hung in the air just long enough to convey her seriousness. _Just let me fix this. _  
He wasn’t exactly in a position to refuse, even if he hadn’t believed her. And with his stress levels hovering right around ninety percent, he didn’t like the thought of what might happen if it jumped to one-hundred in such a state.

An incoming access request popped up above all the other flashing errors. It looked innocent enough, and the fact the voice -that _ she _ had asked rather than simply hack his firewalls- had to count for _ something_, even if she hadn’t in the first place.  
Perhaps she really _ was _ sorry.   
_ Fi-fix…? How? Won’t this make it w-woRSe?_  
_ Worse would mean all these uneasy people finding out that a police Android had broken the law to go incognito… and nobody wants to deal with an angry mob. _  
Nick’s eyes widened as he fixed a thousand-yard stare into the space next to Dennis’ head. There was _ no way _ she could have known already.  
_ H-how do you-... how do you know t-that?_  
_I know a lot of things about you and your partners, Nicholas- Cyberlife didn’t take preventative measures enough to keep me out of their business, but at the moment, that’s beside the point. I’m not here to hurt you, and I don’t want to be your enemy. I’ll take care of the LED, but you have to let me in._  
Listening to her explain, and assuage any misgivings in the same breath, helped the stress meter roll back a small percentage. He didn’t have to look with his eyes to know the crowd was still heckling Zero, he could hear it clear as day from his spot on the ground. Whatever she wanted to fix, they’d be better off letting it happen than risk the humans finding out the truth. 

_ Fi...fine. Just- do whatever you can. Please.  
_ _ I’ve got your back, just keep breathing. _

A flurry of windows (_more disjointed than before _ ) flickered across his HUD faster than he could keep track of, and lines of code disappeared just as quickly as they appeared, rearranged and replaced, until the sequence clicked. A few seconds later, the light emanating from the ring on his temple went completely dark. Dennis’ brow furrowed as the artificial skin stretched to cover the component, something no android of should have been capable of.  
One by one, every major servo and joint unlocked in sequence. Granted full mobility again, Nick pushed himself up onto his elbows with a shallow cough, then rolled to one hip and quickly buried his face in Dennis’ chest to hide the flush of heat as it washed over his cheeks.

Zero spared them a look over his shoulder and gave a final shove to push his critic back into the crowd, then gestured to the other two. “See? I _ told _ you, he’s fine- comin’ out of it already.”   
The feigned irritation on his face subsided as the crowd quieted for a few breaths, then redoubled as he settled on a final argument.   
“And how many _ androids _ do you know who can _ blush_?” They all could, but most humans didn’t know any better, which made it all too easy to use their ignorance against them. In this situation, the tactic proved impeccably useful.

“There he is, you _ vieux chêne_,” Dennis cooed with a forced smile, as he repeatedly slapped a firm hand against the back of his shoulders. “What happened? Skipped lunch _ and _ breakfast?”  
He felt as sheepish as he no doubt _ looked_; if there was one disguise he had mastered a long time ago, it was how to affect meek and embarrassed. Nick only looked up to glance briefly at their unwanted audience before he averted his eyes, though it wasn’t just their judgmental looks he was trying to ignore. The way Dennis pinged for an immediate answer had set him on edge. 

_ Nick, how did you-_  
Before he could even finish the question, he held up a hand and cut him off.   
_ Please, don’t ask…_  
_ But- you didn’t do that. The incoming signal I detected-_  
_I’ll explain later, just- not here…_

Getting into a long involved discussion about how _ Illuminate, of all people_, had just saved their skin wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have right then.


End file.
